Rawat constitutes 22-member BJP working committee
Those close to Nishank and Khanduri included
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 13
After months of hairsplitting and confabulations, the Uttarakhand BJP chief, Teerath Singh Rawat, today constituted a 22-member working committee in which members who have proximity to former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and former Chief Minister BC Khanduri have found a place.

Though the party has tried to do a balancing act by appointing eight vice-presidents, the leaders who have proximity to Nishank and Khanduri far outweigh those who may be close to former Chief Minister BS Koshiyari.

In Uttarakhand, the BJP politics has been revolving around the three leaders in the election of the new president Teerath Singh Rawat. The duo of Khanduri and Nishank had managed to marginalise BS Koshiyari.

A total of eight vice-presidents — Dhan Singh Rawat, Kedar Joshi, Khazan Das, Madan Kaushik, Narayan Singh Rana, Col (retd) CP Nautiyal, Kusum Kandwal and Anil Goyal — would assist the party along with four general secretaries — Sanjay Kumar (organisation), Naresh Bansal and Prakash Pant, eight secretaries — Balwant Singh Bohriyal, Rajni Kukreti, Deepti Rawat, Shyam Veer Saini, Hemant Dwivedi, Neeru Devi, Kusum Gandhi and Sawaraj Vidvan.

In the new working committee, Dhan Singh Rawat who was general secretary under former BJP chief BS Chuphal has been elevated to the post of vice-president, while Deepti Rawat who was media in charge in the previous team has been elevated to the post of secretary.

Among the new entrants, Narayan Singh Rana who has been nominated vice-president has found a place in the organisation structure of the BJP for the first time.

On the other hand, Ashish Gupta has been nominated treasurer and Suresh Joshi, Prakash Suman Dhyani and Anil Baluni have been nominated as party spokespersons.

Apart from the three spokespersons, Umesh Agarwal has been nominated as state media in charge, Suresh Tiwari as state deputy media in charge (Kumaon division) and Abhimanyu as state deputy media in charge (Garhwal division). Mahinder Bhatt has been nominated Garhwal coordinator and Hukum Singh Kunwar as Kumaon coordinator.

Terming the new working committee as balanced, Teerath Singh Rawat said that the leaders have been specifically chosen to strengthen the party for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. ''The working committee has been especially tasked to focus on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,'' he said.

Former Chief Ministers BS Koshiyari, BC Khanduri, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Leader of the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Ajay Bhatt, national secretary Trivender Singh Rawat, member of National BJP working committee Harbans Kapoor, former BJP chief BS Chuphal and MP from Tehri Raj Laxmi Shah have been included in the 19-member permanent invitees' list.

Chiefs of state BJP units nominated
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 13
The Uttarakhand BJP chief today nominated presidents of various party fronts, including the BJP Yuva Morcha, Mahila Morcha, SC Morcha, ST Morcha, Minorities Morcha, Kisan Morcha and the Disciplinary Committee.

The members who have been nominated include Saurabh Thapliyal, president of the BJP Yuva Morcha, Manju Tiwari, president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, Beena Arya, president of the BJP SC Morcha, Ram Kishan, president of the BJP ST Morcha, Sushil Chauhan, president of the BJP Kisan Morcha and Amir Ahmed Kadri, president of the BJP Minorities Morcha.

M.L Baunthiyal has been nominated president of the BJP state Disciplinary Committee, Kalpana Saini as secretary of the committee and A.S Aswal, K.C Punetha and Devi Datt Dani have been nominated members of the committee.

BJP focussing on 2014 Lok Sabha elections, says Sehgal
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, May 13
The Bharatiya Janata Party state unit has already started preparing for the 2014 parliamentary elections.

This was stated by newly-appointed women wing state chief Neelam Sehgal while addressing party workers here today.

Thanking state party chief Teerath Singh Rawat for reposing faith in her capabilities, Sehgal assured that the women party cadre in the state would play a pivotal role to ensure victory in all five parliamentary constituencies.

Citing the ongoing turmoil and corruption in the Congress-led Union Government and also in the Vijay Bahuguna-led coalition Uttarakhand government, Sehgal said the public was perturbed by the “ill governance of the Congress” and wanted a change.

The BJP was the best alternative for the public, but for that, the party would have to work at the grassroots level. Public grievances and their concerns needed to be addressed by the party workers at village, city, district and state levels, said Sehgal.

Referring to the recent civic elections in the state, she added that women came out in large numbers to vote, as a result of which the percentage of women winners in the civic body elections was also high.

Sehgal was felicitated by women party unit activists at the party office on the occasion.

District BJP women chief Kusum Gandhi assured Sehgal that party women activists were gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections.

Gandhi said women workers’ meetings would be held on a regular basis and assembly-wise formation of election committees would also be done, keeping in mind the forthcoming elections.

Survey: Anganwadis not functioning well
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 13
Despite crores being spent on the anganwadi centres in Uttarakhand under the Integrated Child and Development Scheme (ICDS), the centres have failed to provide health and education services to schoolchildren, expectant mothers and adolescent girls.

Revealing the findings of a survey conducted in seven districts by 3,250 teenage children who are members of the Uttarakhand Child Advocacy Network (UCAN), it was found that the pre-school children were not being provided adequate morning and mid-day meals at the anganwadi centres.

''During the survey, it was found that food material was not reaching on time at the anganwadi centres and in many places there was no separate area to cook the meals. As such, the pre-school children were not being given morning and mid-day meals regularly. Moreover, at the anganwadi centres located in Nainital, Chamoli and Uttarkashi, no adequate water supply was present,'' said Sandeep Rawat and Surya Prakash of Champawat district.

In the total 21 anganwadis surveyed, 195 children were registered as malnourished, but no medical health examination was undertaken, raising questions as to on what basis the pre-school children were termed malnourished.

''It clearly points out to the ad-hocism prevailing in the centres and points to large-scale siphoning of money as the pre-school children were not being provided meals,'' said Rawat. No regular health examination was done of children in 10 anganwadis surveyed. In Gairsain block of Chamoli district, not a single health examination was done.

In the 24 anganwadi centres, a total of 1,055 teenage girls are registered, but not all received nutritious meals. Further, in the the 24 balvaidis, out of the registered 235 expectant mothers, only five were given iron tablets.

The survey report will be presented to the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and Chief Secretary Subash Kumar tomorrow.

Forum hails move against shifting Dhari Devi shrine
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 13
The IITians for Holy Ganga, a forum constituted to preserve the heritage and ecology of the Ganga by the alumni of IITs across the country, has welcomed the decision of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to not lift and relocate the Dhari Devi shrine situated on the banks of the Alaknanda, near Srinagar.

The ministry, in a letter dated May 10, has directed Alaknanda Hydropower Company Limited to not undertake any work of the dislocation of the deity and stop all civil works associated with the temple.

Environmentalists and religious bodies had been fighting against the submerging of the temple due to the coming up of the Srinagar hydroelectric project being constructed by AHPCL.

"We welcome the ministry's move to protect and preserve the religious sanctity and character of this temple. We suggest the setting up of an expert committee consisting of IItians, representatives from Engineers India Limited, religious bodies and other related organisations to develop a modified plan to save the historical temple from submerging in the reservoir of the Srinagar project," said Yatinder Pal Singh Suri, president, IItians for Holy Ganga, and president, IIT Alumni Association, Kharagpur (North India Chapter).

"IITians consider both the Ganga and the Yamuna as the life source of the region and also a powerful symbol of cultural and spiritual renewal. The minimum ecological flows of the rivers ensuring water quality and environmentally sustainable development should be maintained," said Suri.

"Both the rivers are deeply associated with the faith and civilisation of the country and should be saved at any cost. We appeal to the government at the Centre and the states concerned to save the rivers. Various schemes started by the Centre and the states in the past few years have left both rivers more polluted," said Suri.

"We suggest to maintain regular flow in the Ganga and remove blockages on its streams. Surprisingly, all politicians of the ruling and opposition parties, saints and seers, social activists, scientists and individuals speak about an uninterrupted and clean flow of the Ganga and the Yamuna, but the rivers are getting more polluted with each passing day," he said.

Paritosh Tyagi, spokesperson for the forum, said their demands included the setting up of a commission to look into the problems plaguing the rivers, a Ganga-Yamuna river policy and a system to separate rivers and sewers.

Senior citizens concerned over decreasing farm land in Terai
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, May 13
Senior citizens in Terai region have expressed their concern over decreasing agriculture land in the Terai region, specially the land that belongs to Pantnagar Agricultural University.

''The university was established under the shadow of problems of resettling of refugees after Partition as well as the famine of 1965,'' said Col (Retd) Promod Sharma, a farmer based at Kichcha.

According to Sharma, the efforts of Govind Ballabh Pant, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai along with Ram Sumer Shukla and Vishwanath Rai of Terai region to make the region an agricultural hub to fight hunger with the help of new technology in agriculture have not borne fruit as, after the new state came into existence, the looting of agricultural land in Terai began. “It started with allocation of agricultural land to administrative buildings of US Nagar district headquarters in late nineties and ended with allocating fertile land to SIDCUL in the name of industrialisation,'' said Sharma.

According to a local journalist in Rudrapur, the government has after the year 2000 not only allocated over 4000 acres of land to SIDCUl for free, but also gave away university land to Pantnagar airport, Railways, PAC directorate and other private builders like Supertech and Omex companies. ''Except airport authority and Railways, no other takers paid money to the university,'' said Mohan Rajput, a journalist based at Rudrapur.

The senior citizens in Haldwani held a meeting to discuss the Terai situation on Sunday. They said government of Uttarakhand should take immediate steps to stop allocation of fertile Terai land for the purposes other than agriculture. ''The recent initiative of the state government to give away fertile land of sainik farm, Patharchatta, for non- agricultural purposes, is condemnable,'' said Ganga Singh Chamiyal, a retired government employee, while presiding over the meeting of senior citizens of Haldwani on this topic.

According to agricultural scientists of Pantnagar University, the formation of top soil fertility takes thousands of years, and if ''we smear it with concrete, the fertility gets destroyed for ever.'' The fertility of Terai land, which was formed thousands of years ago, is now in peril,'' said Pramod Sharma, quoting information gathered from university agricultural scientists.

According to sources ,the agricultural productivity in Terai region, which was at its highest in the year 2003, when it had surplus foodgrains, has now gone down as 10 per cent of the total fertile land of the region under Pantnagar University has been given away for non-agricultural purposes. ''If such trends continue, the vision of our freedom fighters who wanted Terai as a model of Green Revolution, will not be realised for the next 50 years,'' said Col Sharma.

Farmers hold protest at Ranipur-BHEL
Demand rehabilitation and relief for land given by them for setting up of BHEL in 1960
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, May 13
Under the aegis of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, farmers staged a protest at Ranipur-BHEL today, demanding rehabilitation and compensation for the agricultural land given by them for the setting up of BHEL in 1960.

They also presented documents showing that some of the plots are still lying unutilised despite five decades of the acquisition of the land by BHEL.

Farmers said they were forced to take to the agitation route as the BHEL management had failed to look into their woes.

The farmers are demanding proper rehabilitation or return of their land acquired during the setting up of the BHEL unit at Ranipur, 5 km from Haridwar.

Samiti president Balwant Singh Chauhan said farmers had given their land for development work. However, hundreds of acres were still lying unutilised. “If BHEL does not need land, it should return the same to farmers, who were neither rehabilitated nor given preference during recruitments in BHEL. More than 1,500 acres were taken by BHEL. Now we are demanding only 500 acres of the land, so that the affected farmers could earn their livelihood," said Chauhan.

Farmers alleged that 92 acres had been given for commercial purposes and 30 bighas to property dealers near the BSP office in Shivalik Nagar. Samiti members demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

The farmers warned of similar agitations in the future if their demands were not fulfilled.

On the other hand, a spokesperson for BHEL has denied illegal occupancy of agricultural land and said proper compensation had already been given to farmers.

Governor bats for farmers at ICAR meeting
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 13
The Uttarakhand Governor, Dr Aziz Qureshi, today inaugurated a state-level meeting of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) at the Raj Bhavan, Dehradun.

The meeting is jointly organised by the Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry and Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute.

In his inaugural address, the Governor said all research and policies of agriculture should have the welfare of the farmers at heart. He said farmers had been exploited and neglected and their welfare needed to be kept in mind while formulating any agricultural policy.

The Governor also released an ICAR publication titled “Status of centre-state cooperation in agriculture, research, education and action” and two publications of the Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry.

Dr A.K. Sikka, Prof Mathew Prasad, Dr P.K. Mishra and Mr Chugh threw light on the concept and objectives of the meeting.

Recommendations of this meeting will be reviewed by ICAR at the national level.

MLA opens cabins at St Mary’s Hospital
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, May 13
The BJP MLA from Mussoorie, Ganesh Joshi, inaugurated the newly constructed cabins and the widening of shed work at St. Mary’s Government Hospital from the MLA LAD fund here today. Around Rs 4.13 lakh from MLA LAD fund was spent for the benefit of the patients attending the hospital on a daily basis, said Ganesh Joshi.

About the delay in the construction of the community health centre near the Civil Hospital, he said the work was lagging due to non-availability of funds but now the problem has been sorted out and the work would begin soon so that the hospital is constructed within one year.

Drinking water rationed in Champawat
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, May 13
Compelled by the drying of natural sources which feed the town, the Champawat Jal Santhan has applied for ward-wise water rationing in the town till the monsoons charge the local resources in full capacity.

“All nine local natural water sources have gone dry to 50 per cent, compelling us to resort to rationing of drinking water in the town,” said PC Kargeti, a jal sansthan engineer.

“We have decided to carry drinking water in vehicles to various dry wards of the town. If we get more vehicles on hire, we will be able to improve the situation in one week,” he added.

In the nearby Lohaghat town of the same district, the jal sansthan has started distributing drinking water through tankers, but since this supply reaches on the third day, the citizens are suffering.

“Due to shortage of tankers with the department, the people are getting drinking water on the third day. There are huge crowds at the tankers for water,” said Rita, a resident of the Talli Chandmari locality of Lohaghat.

Villagers protest against lack of medical, educational facilities
Submit memorandum to DM
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, May 13
Complaining about the shortage of roads, education facilities and medical care in their villages, the residents of border villages at Indo-China border, in Munsiyari sub-division of the district, reached the district headquarters today and protested before the District Magistrate’s (DM) office. They also submitted a memorandum to the DM in this connection.

The villagers from Talla and Malla Bhainskot area of Munsiyari area stated in the memorandum that due to the apathy of the government, the villagers were still struggling to get link roads to their villages. “Neither could we get a road to our area, which was sanctioned by the government in the year 2004, nor could they provide us with staff and medicines at the ANM centre, which was opened at the same time,” said Jiwan Singh Shahi, leader of the protesters.

According to the villagers, they had to travel for 10 km to reach the nearest primary medical centre. “Not only is the hospital facility distanced from our area, Bhamnslot Intermediate College lies useless due to lack of teaching staff and no principal at the college,” said Shahi.

The villagers said they reached the district headquarters as their agitation last month was not heard by the state machinery. “We have decided to start long-term agitations at district headquarters if our demands are not met,” said villagers from Bhanskot.

Rains give residents respite from heat
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, May 13
Residents of five hill districts of Almora, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Champawat and Bageshwar, witnessed a sudden respite from the scorching heat as medium showers and subsequent snowstorms hit some places in the districts in the last 24 hours, bringing a steep fall in the temperature.

According to the Weather Department sources, while the hill districts witnessed medium rains, the Bhabar ridge of Nainital district got heavy snowstorm, giving respite to the residents. "The rains were witnessed at Gomati valley, Lahur valley and Kausani valley of Bageshwar district, Almora town and Soor valley of Pithoragarh district, while Bhimtal ,Kahtima and Kathgodam areas were covered with snowstorms," said Dr HS Kushwaha, weather expert at Pantagar University.

Dr Kushwaha said the rains and snowstorms helped bring the temperature down at these places thus making the weather pleasant. "The temperature of Bageshwar valley, which was at 30 degree Celsius before the rains, fell down to 24 degree Celsius."

The temperature had gone up to 41.8 degree Celsius in the plane areas of Kumaon region on May 10, breaking previous records of heat in the region.